


Flare Guns and Smoke Signals

by MatthewWuzHere



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Keith is obsessed with mothman, Lance (Voltron) in Denial, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Keith (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), POV Third Person Limited, Pidge is also very obsessed with mothman, Pining, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:07:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25542577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatthewWuzHere/pseuds/MatthewWuzHere
Summary: Keith knew when he applied to be a camp sight ranger in the middle of nowhere, that he'd be signing up for the weirdest experience of his life. What he didn't expect to be signing up for, was a family.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 10





	Flare Guns and Smoke Signals

**Author's Note:**

> not beta read, apologies for any spelling errors or grammatical mistakes.

Keith stared at the blank application letter on his desk. It had laid there, untouched since Shiro had visited him last month. Altean Ranger Force was printed on the top of the paper. At first Keith had teased Shiro on the name. “It sounds like you’re a boy scout leader.”, Keith would say, only to receive a flick on the back of his head by his older brother. “It’s not a boy scout group, Keith. It’s a team of law enforcement. We watch over a large campsite. It’s a very important job.” 

The sound of glass shattering pulled Keith from his thoughts, he left his room and walked down his apartment hall to the kitchen. His eyes darted to a broken glass cup on the floor. The water it held spilt in every direction. Keith looked up to meet the beady eyes of the culprit. His cat flicked her tail back and forth and if Keith didn’t know any better, he’d say she was smirking. She yawned before licking at her gray fur. When Keith first found her as a kitten, he cooed over her. She had pretty black paws and black stripes on her tail. Now, however, he knew better. She may be soft and adorable, but she was the most sinister cat he’d ever met. 

“Moth, get off my counter.” he shooed his cat away and knelt down to pick up the glass shards. He tossed them in the trash before drying the puddle of water with a towel. Moth was going to be the death of him one day. As he pressed down on the towel to soak up the water, a small shard of glass pierced its way through the cloth. 

Keith inhaled sharply and pulled his hand back. A small trickle of blood traced down his palm. He stood and tossed the towel towards his laundry room before walking to the sink and rinsing the cut. When the blood finally stopped flowing, he pulled his hand back. 

He turned to see Moth curled up on the couch. Keith's phone dinged on one of the cushions. He walked towards it and picked it up. 

Messages 1 

Shiro: Wish you were here 

Image Attached 

Keith opened the image. Pine Trees towered over Shiro, who stood, arms outstretched. He was soaking up the sun that peaked through the heavy branches. Keith had to admit the image was appealing, and he’d give anything to be sitting in a forest somewhere instead of cramped up in the city. 

With a sigh, Keith lifted his phone and snapped a picture of his cat, stretched out and snoring against his couch. 

Keith: Can’t leave her here alone. 

Image Attached 

Shiro’s response was quick. 

Shiro: Then bring her. 

Keith tossed his phone onto his couch next to Moth, startling her awake. What was Shiro thinking? He couldn’t take a cat to a forest full of bears and probably wolves maybe even coyotes. He shivered just thinking about it. 

Moth meowed loudly and pawed at Keith’s bedroom door. 

“I hear you Mothy, I hear you.” Keith rolled his eyes and opened his door, which resulted in Moth bounding in and leaping onto his bed. So, it was decided, it was bedtime. Keith chuckled as he stripped off his day wear. With only his boxers on he crawled in under his sheets. Moth curled up in a ball on Keith’s chest. It amazed Keith how he could lay in bed, as the sun rose in the sky where his brother was now. 

It was as Keith was about to drift off that the sound of stray dogs barking startled Moth. She lifted her head and looked back and forth quickly, “It’s ok, Mothy. Only a couple dogs.” The soothing words allowed Moth to relax and lay back down. 

The sound of loud music blared through the thin walls. His next-door neighbor had a strong obsession with heavy metal and a knack for playing it at the worse times. Now it was Keith’s turn to sit upright. He groaned before falling back down onto his bed with a thud. He pulled a pillow over his head to muffle the noise. He had no idea how Moth could sleep soundly through this but wake at the smallest dog bark. 

Keith would give anything to be out of this wretched city. He peaked out from under his pillow and looked at the application, still sitting blank on his desk. Maybe moving out to the woods where Shiro lived wouldn’t be such a bad idea. He heard the ranger cabins were quiet at night. No, he refused to entertain the idea. 

Then his upstairs neighbor started running around, causing loud thuds to erupt from the roof. 

That settled it. Keith would apply in the morning. 

\--- 

The plane ride to Washington was a boring one to say the least. From New York to Washington was a little over a six-hour flight, and Keith was dying to get off this cramped plane. The child behind him kept kicking and screaming. Every time Keith would close his eyes for even the smallest bit of rest, he’d be jolted awake by the child kicking his seat. Perhaps the only thing worse was the horrible alcohol breath of the man sitting next to Keith. He was very obviously wasted and Keith was in no mood to have to deal with his nonsense gibbering. He’d give anything to have Moth curled up in his lap. He relied on her. When Keith first got Moth, he expected to be caring for a cat. Instead it seemed more like Moth was the one caring for him. His first depressive episode with Moth resulted in her refusing to leave his side. Keith smiled at the thought. Sadly, Moth was in a crate in the plane’s luggage. Apparently having a cat with you on a plane isn’t exactly acceptable. 

When the pilot finally announced their descent, Keith felt relieved. Six hours of hell were finally over; and when Keith finally felt the wheels touch ground, he let out a sigh. After rolling to a stop, Keith immediately stood up. 

As the line of people filed out the plane door, Keith grabbed his luggage from the overhead bin and followed the line. He wandered about the airport until he finally learned how to understand the maze he was walking through and find the luggage drop off. He picked up his bigger suitcase and Moth’s crate. She was obviously very stressed from the flight. Keith bit his lip, feeling guilty. Finally, he went down an escalator to the lobby where he expected to meet Shiro. 

Instead he found a tall, slender, brown haired boy standing next to what he could only assume was his friend. He was elbowing a guy with a yellow headband. In the slender boy's hand was a paper with the name Keith Kogane printed out boldly on it. Keith sighed; he knew Shiro was a very busy man but could he at least make time to pick up his own brother from the airport. 

He trudged over to the boy, who paid him no attention. He wheeled both his suitcases behind him and struggled to hold on to Moth’s crate. He could almost feel the tension of that cat wanting out of that cage. 

“Shiro really couldn’t be bothered to pick up his own brother huh.” Keith spoke plainly towards the two. Both pairs of eyes darted to his. Keith had to stop himself from shriveling up right that moment. 

“Wow. We are just as good as Shiro, I’m offended.” The lanky one spoke with mock hurt. 

“Who are you exactly?” Keith barely looked at the boy. 

“Wh- Who am I? Hunk can you believe him- Um the names Lance. Lance McClain. and I happen to be a friend of your brother.” 

Keith snorted, “He’s literally never mentioned you.” 

Lance stared at Keith and looked almost at a loss for words before his friend chimed in, “Nice to meet you Keith! I’m hunk, and those suitcases look heavy. Let me help.” Hunk reached out and grabbed his luggage so Keith wouldn’t struggle to carry moth. Keith thanked him and turned to look at Lance, who was staring daggers at him. 

“Well uh... are we going to go?” Keith spoke awkwardly. 

“Um yeah we are gonna go, but just so you know we have to wait for my friend. They're in the bathroom.” 

As if on cue a small disheveled gremlin opened the door and stepped out of the woman's restroom. There was a loud yelling sound followed by the disheveled person turning and sticking their middle finger up. they smirked before yelling back, “OH SUCK A TAMPON HELLEN!” They shut the door and walked over. 

Lance snorted and Hunk took shaky breaths, trying not to laugh obviously. Keith stared at the smaller person in shock. They dusted off their pants before holding out their hand to Keith, “I’m pidge, and I’m guessing your Keith and-” They froze as their eyes landed on Moth. They gasped before taking a deep breath and collecting themself, “I’m sorry but your gonna have to let me hold that cat in the car.” 

\--- 

The car ride started off decent enough. It was only an hour travel from the airport to the ranger station where Keith would be staying. He was in the back seats with Pidge while hunk had shotgun and Lance took the driver's seat. Lance was quiet, which Keith got the feeling that being quiet was uncharacteristic for him. 

“What’s her name?” Pidge asked as they pet the cat purring on their legs. 

“Moth.” Keith spoke shortly as he scrolled through social media on his phone. 

Pidge smiled, “Like mothman!” It was clearly a joke but Keith looked up immediately. 

“Yeah I named her after mothman...” 

Pidge met his eyes, “Wait you know about mothman?” 

“Know! I can practically recite his wiki page by heart!” Keith felt happiness, real happiness trickle inside of him, but just as Pidge was about to speak, his happiness was stomped out of him. 

“Great he’s rude and is obsessed with mothman. What next, he’s-” 

He’s cut off by Hunk, “Lance stop.” 

“No let him finish. I wanna hear what he has to say.” Keith crosses his arms. 

“Well I was gonna say he’s a college dropout.” 

Keith knew it was a coincidence. There was no way Lance knew Keith was a dropout. It was just meant to be some sly comment to get under his skin. And it worked like a charm. 

“Yeah, I am, what about it?” 

There was silence. No one spoke a word. Lance obviously fumbled for something to say before giving up. Keith may have only been here for 30 minutes, but he knew one thing for certain. He hated Lance McClain.


End file.
